Wal-Mart Already Feeling Holiday Cheer; Shares Hit New All-Time High

By Avi Salzman

Wal-Mart (WMT) executives expressed confidence about the holiday season at the retail giant’s annual meeting today, saying customers are making big purchases on layaway and the company continues to grab market share.

Shares jumped 3.6% to $76.78 in midday trading, hitting a new all time high.

Wal-Mart said that customers have already made $400 million in layaway purchases in less than a month, half as much as they made in the entire 2011 holiday season, Reuters reported. Wal-Mart also said it will accelerate plans to add more small stores to compete with drugstore chains and others. By 2016, it should have 500 Neighborhood Market stores and a total of 12 Express stores, the AP reported.

CEO Mike Duke said Wal-Mart is “playing to win [online] in a very real way now.”

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